Clinton will testify in open hearing on Benghazi

12/7/12 7:27 PM EST

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify in an open House hearing on the attacks in Benghazi that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) had previously indicated that Clinton would testify once the results of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board was completed, but it had not been decided whether the hearing would be open to the public or closed. In a statement Friday night, the chairwoman said she received confirmation from the State Department that the hearing would be open.

“As we anticipate the release of the ARB report, I look forward to discussing with the secretary what corrective measures has the department undertaken to address problems identified in the months following the Benghazi attack, including security of our posts, threat assessments, host government responsibilities, and coordination with other U.S. security agencies,” Ros-Lehtinen said.

The date for the highly-anticipated testimony has not been set, but is expected when the review board’s findings are completed next week. Ros-Lehtinen had been aiming for a hearing sometime this month.

A spokeswoman for Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Friday that Clinton will also testify before Kerry’s panel once the review board’s report has been completed. No date has been set for the Senate hearing.

The Sept. 11 attacks in Benghazi have been the subject of multiple congressional hearings and investigations, but many of them – including the sessions led by the House and Senate Intelligence Committees where former CIA Director David Petraeus testified – have been closed.